Agile Community of Practice

The Evolution of a Scrum Team to an Agile Organization

When Implementing Scrum in the real world, many organizations start with one or two Scrum Teams after receiving some training using a new Scrum Master.

Then, if the stakeholders and “pilot” Scrum Teams align and show progress — and success — delivering real world results, a few more Scrum Teams are created.

Or. It’s a complete mess, Scrum get’s “blamed”, and the organization goes back to whatever they were doing before. Adios agile. Good luck with whatever is next my friend.

So, let’s assume it’s a success.

Agile and Scrum start to "organically grow” in the organization.

Let’s skip the “magic happens here” [in real life == the hard work"] and go to a present day situation.

The organization now has multiple Scrum Teams somehow magically working together [spoiler alert: there is no magic and this takes time].

Eventually someone gets the bright idea to create an “Agile Center of Excellence” or “Agile Community of Practice.”

Do we call it an, “Agile Center or Excellence” or our, “Agile Community of Practice?”

Call it what you want [you will anyway]. People have dogmatic stances out there about calling it the “right” name. Good luck if that’s your fight, it’s not mine these days.

Focus. #deliver

This Agile Community of Practice (or Agile Center of Excellence) usually looks and feels like a bunch of generalizing specialists [read this excellent article article from my colleague Scott Ambler] from multiple Scrum Teams who generally get together on a regular cadence geeking out on their true area of specialty.

Examples could include:

Scrum Masters, Product Owners, or Developers (used to be called “Development Team Members”) from various Scrum Teams.

In human terms, you might also recognize them as:

Project Managers, Product Managers, Business Analysts, Software Developers, Software Architects, Teachers, Students, Marketing Managers, Sales Managers, Instructional Designers… err… so anyone on a Scrum Team who is delivering value to your organization.

Make Sense?

People. Talking to other people about what matters to them.

Don't get stuck on perfection — Get Started

Really.

Set up an environment (face-to-face or via Zoom or whatever you are using in the current world) where the specialists from each team can get together and learn together.

It’s that simple.

This is part of the magic :-).

Who does this?

You.

Go for it. Get it started with one friend or colleague.

WANT HELP?

HERE ARE TWO IMMEDIATE SOLUTIONS

1) If you are feeling “all alone” and want to join one of the signatories of the Agile Manifesto (Ron Jeffries), Michael Vizdos, and other agile practitioners in a private online community, please visit www.AgileMentoring.com for more information and to join us today!

2) You can add me (Michael Vizdos) to YOUR internal Slack Channel / Workspace or Microsoft Teams or Google [whatever it’s called today] or Discord server. Visit consulting.mvizdos.com now for a few different options for helping you with your own internal Agile Community of Practice or Agile Center of Excellence.

What’s the advantage of creating and sustaining an Agile Community of Practice?

The generalizing specialists on each Scrum Team geek out, learn together, and then bring those techniques and best practices back to each of the individual Scrum Teams they are working on.

Let that sink into your brain for a second.

Really. I’ll wait.

You don’t need something formal.

You don’t need to create a committee to decide a formal committee who then decides [blah blah blah].

You don’t need permission to do this.

Do it.

Start today.

Or, if you’re in an organization that has been “Implementing Scrum” (or Agile) for years, ask around… groups may have started and flamed out in the past. This is a good reason to get restarted.

With you leading it.

Really.

What Next?

Let me know your thoughts on this topic (or want some help creating and mentoring an Agile Community of Practice in your organization?).

Contact me (with feedback) or connect with me on LinkedIn to discuss this more together.

One final thing while you are here:

Subscribe to my weekly Saturday morning emails about Implementing Scrum in the real world. And get an “every two week” check in from me too.

What could be better?

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